HBC stock climbs after exec purchases about 18 million of the retailer's shares

The Canadian Press

Updated: January 4, 2019

The flagship Hudson's Bay Company store is pictured in Toronto on January 27, 2014. Hudson's Bay Co.'s stock is up about 12 per cent after an entity controlled by Hudson's Bay Co.'s executive chairman Richard Baker announced it picked up another eight per cent stake in the department store company. Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — Hudson’s Bay Co.’s stock was up almost 16 per cent after an entity controlled by HBC executive chairman Richard Baker announced it picked up another eight per cent stake in the department store company.

Baker and his Rupert of the Rhine LLC say they have acquired almost 18 million shares from a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board for $9.45 a share.

Baker and Rupert of the Rhine already have a large stake in the company and the purchased shares represent about 9.76 per cent of the issued or outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis.

The purchase caused HBC’s stock to climb to $8.52 and comes a month after HBC announced it had a third-quarter net loss of $164 million or 69 cents per share.

Baker and HBC previously caught flak from a handful of investors, including Teachers’, which voted in June against the company’s remuneration practices that included a $54.8-million pay package for Baker.

At the same time, it faced criticism from activist investor Jonathan Litt for failing to take advantage of its real estate to create more value for shareholders.

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